15-minute exercise to tell if you're skimping on benefits for your repeat customers

Today I have a simple exercise for you that can help figure out ways to retain customers.

1. Open a document or get a sheet of paper.

2. In a list, write down every benefit, bonus, promotion, or freebie you give to new customers or every customer. This can be coupon codes, educational content, access to a deals email list, etc.

3. Now start a second list and write down every benefit, bonus, etc that you give to customers who have bought two or more times (your repeat customers).

4. Cross out every item in the "repeat customers" list that's already in the "new customers" list. You're making the list exclusive so there are no duplicated items in the repeat customers list.

i.e. the new customers list will list everything that every customer gets, while the repeat customer list has items that only a repeat customer will get.

5. Take a look at your lists and ask yourself "are the items in the repeat customer list valuable enough for a customer to pay for with their loyalty?"

Chances are, you'll be giving new customers (and every customer) a ton of value but repeat customers will get very little. Fixing this imbalance will help build up your repeat customers leading to more profit, less defections, and a better performing Shopify store.

Do this every so often and measure the changes in Repeat Customer Insights. Use the Store Analysis to see how your Repeat Purchase Rate changes and Customer Grid History to watch the changes in the new-vs-loyal customer balance.

Some changes might improve those rates. Others might cause new customers to drop.

It'll need to be measured and monitored to figure out what story your store is trying to tell you.

Eric Davis